Customer Reviews

Designing Woman [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The great director Vincent Minnelli (Gigi, American in Paris & Meet Me in St. Louis) does an outstanding job presenting us with the 50's comedy "Designing Woman". Lauren Bacall is gorgeous in the lead and with a rare comedic performance gives us a great movie. Her leading man Gregory Peck also in a rare comedic role pulls it off masterfully under the direction of Minnelli.

This Warner Brothers DVD is very nicely done. The movie & color quality is outstanding and the WideScreen presentation fills the screen with the stars personalities. DVD Extras include a Trailer & behind-the-scenes mini documentary featuring the Costume Designer Helen Rose.

Summary: New York High Society Designing Woman (Bacall - is outstanding) meets a New York Newspaper Sports Writer (Gregory Peck - a nice change & he was delightful) at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California while on their respective assignments. After a shakey start, fall madly in love and in a few days marry.
As they return to the "Big Apple" the real adventure begins. The original Odd Couple now realize they both had separate lives and different committments. How they deal with the transition is real Hollywood humor and with the philosophy of the 1950's there must be a happy ending after they pay their dues. A Great movie!!

A very nice movie showing us the Hollywood and the Big stars we know & love to see. Enjoy.

In this film, Lauren Bacall hilariously portrays the quintessential high-society, high-fashion New Yorker. While on a trip to Beverly Hills, she meets and spontaneously marries the wonderful Gregory Peck - an unassuming sports writer who has no idea exactly what he's married into. Upon their return to New York, Peck's character discovers he's married the darling of New York society as his wife is a renowned designer (think Edith Head or Helen Rose). What ensues is hilarious encounters between her society coterie and his down-home group of blue-collar writers, setting up perfectly for the witty repartee between Bacall and Peck that defines the movie. The film culminates in a fashion show-boxing rumble, once again intersecting the seemingly divergent lives of Bacall and Peck.

"Designing Woman" is a wonderful movie that gives ample opportunity for the magnificent Gregory Peck to show off his comedic skills, however subtly. I saw this film after "Roman Holiday" and it cemented my image of Peck as a dashing and charming leading man who brings out the comedic best in his leading ladies. The chemistry between Bacall and Peck is evident throughout the movie and is a testament to the adage "Opposites do attract."

This is a complete, well-told story with a solid set of supporting characters. This movie is for all those people looking for that rare superb romantic comedy. The delightful depiction of New York society makes us nostalgic for the days before the Hilton sisters.

I love Gregory Peck. I love him as the serious, morally righteous attorney, the dashing naval captain, you name it. So, really, I should have known that he could pull off a comedic role as well. No one, I don't think, could have known how well he'd pull it off.

From his first hilarious hangover to the last "cross-eyed" fight scene, Peck is enchanting. He's completely believable in his role as a sports writer caught up in a new world of dresses and strange choreographers intruding on his poker night. And perhaps it's because he's not known as a comedic actor that he's all the more funny.

Designing Woman seems to be a little known film, but I'm certainly glad I found it because it kept me laughing, which brought others into the room to watch it with me. Now I just wish that Peck had made more movies like this.

I'd never heard of this movie, but gave it a try because of Gregory Peck. I was absolutely delighted by this sweet, charming, entertaining movie filled with funny situations, amusing characters and great stylish '50s clothes. And Gregory Peck looks his best.

I have seen this beautifully made film many, many times and never get

tired of it. I hope eventually all of Vincente Minelli's films come out

on Blu-ray. They deserve to be seen in every bit of their gorgeous

detail. Even this film's flaws make it richer. Gregory Peck's acting as

sportswriter Mike Hagen is stiff and lackadaisical and Lauren

Bacall also seems somehow preoccupied (possibly with her husband

Humphrey Bogart's poor health). But their personal malaise as actors

reinforces one of the central themes of the film, that is, the near

impossibility of creating a truly compatible marriage. The sexually

ambiguous character of Randy Owens (Jack Cole) also undermines (in a

good way) the gender stereotyping that Mike Hagen and his buddies

desperately cling to. Dancer Lori Shannon and producer Zachary Wilder

are the only true adults in the film; it's their eventual pairing at

the end of the film that gives it a sense of emotional completion.

Designing Woman also presents a wonderful cinematic vision of New York;

it evokes a time when the world of musical theater and Broadway played

a central role in American popular culture.

Designing Woman is a romantic comedy starring Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck. After their marriage is the moment the excitement begins /getting to know one another. It is fun to watch Mr. Peck's character explaining his marriage to his former girlfriend, Dolores Gray. How true to life is the uniting of "Miss" Bacall's and Ms. Gray's characters. I enjoyed counting the wardrobe changes made by "Miss" Bacall. She proved herself to be the consummate actress as she made this movie during the time her husband, Humprey Bogart, was sick. I am a collector of classic movies. Since I own on VHS and/or DVD all the movies "Miss Bacall and Mr. Bogart made together, I had to have this one also. I encourage you to purchase this movie for your collection. You won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

This movie was enjoyable from beginning to the end. Lauren and Gregory were brilliant in both of their casts. Well Done.

I really loved this movie. It is stylish, classy and funny all in one. The costumes are wonderful and the plot is funny. I am happy to have this movie in my library.

Witty, Vincente Minnelli-directed comedy with Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and the underrated Dolores Gray.

Peck is a sports writer for a New York City paper, and Bacall is a fashion designer. A whirlwind romance leads to marriage, and the movies explores the contrast between his poker playing, boxing fan pals and her artsy set in amusing ways.

While the picture makes some of the sexist assumptions you would expect in a 1957 film, it's worth pointing out that the couple moves into her apartment, not his, and that she doesn't give up her friends or her way of life for his benefit.

Also includes a prefab interview with MGM costume designer Helen Rose and the trailer.

Superb cast, master director, good screwball premise, and......pfffft! This odd-couple comedy is skewered by its smirking view of sex roles, whereby the mink-clad heroine will go faint at a boxing match (is this Lauren Bacall?), and her macho mate will question the masculinity of a Broadway choreographer. And I'm afraid we can't share in the delight the film takes in making sport of a punch-drunk, washed-up boxer. (Now we know punch-drunk means brain-damaged). Notable only for the saucy performance of Dolores Gray, and an alley fight scene where the incredibly fey (but agile) Jack Cole knocks out an entire screen full of hoods. Otherwise, a misfire.